Table of Contents for Maps, Myths, and Men
Table of Contents for Maps, Myths, and Men
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Note to the Reader
1.An American Place Named Vínland
America and the Medieval Norse
The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation
The Vínland Map
Sources for the Vínland Map
Guaranteeing Authenticity
Showing the Map to a Wider World
Father Time and Daughter Truth
2.The Norse in and near North America
A Flawed Source of Information
Who Were the Norse?
Voyaging to New Lands
Far North Was Far Away
No Help from the Norse
Eirik the Red, Mariner and Merchant
Nororseta: The Northern Hunting Grounds
Norse Relations with Arctic Natives
From Arctic Greenland to Arctic North America
The Vínland Voyages
L'Anse aux Meadows
Grapes and Grain
Abandoning Vínland
Continued American Connections
The Literary Aftermath
Disputed American Destinations
Sustaining Life in Norse Greenland
Everyday Life
How Cold Was It?
Did Hard Times Becoming Harder in Greenland?
Tusks, Tithes, and Other Troubles
The Many Names of a Much Loved Child
The Cod Wars Begin
Did a New Beginning Become an End?
3.The Black Hole of Provenance
A Child of Unknown Parentage
Early Misgivings About the "Private Collection"
The Spanish Connection
An English Sojourn
The Map's Provenance No Clearer by 1974
A Muddied Pond
A Companion to the Vínland Map Volume
Where Did the Profits Go?
4.Creating Matter from Wormholes
The Joy of Discovery
General Description of the Two Volumes
Scrutiny by Experts
Who Ordered the "Improvements"?
The Bindings
The Handwriting
A Widening Inquiry
Watermarks
The Speculum Pastedowns and the Council of Basel
Why the Council of Basel?
Wormholes
5.A Star is Born
The Vínland Map Reaches Yale
The Big Secret
The Big Names
The Big Launch
The Big Discussion
Dissidents Need Not Apply
The Cost of Public Stargazing
6.Portrait of the Vínland Map
A Map with No Equal
Immediate Visual Appearance
The Map Parchment and Its Flaws
The Handwriting
Delineacio prima pars
The Wormholes on the Map
European Medieval Ink
The Vínland Map Ink Debate
Modern Anatase
7.The Vínland Map as a Cartographic Image
A Flat Earth—or a Globe?
Was Skelton a Reluctant Commentator?
Many Cartographical Traditions—and None
Adam of Bremen
Inventio Fortunata
The Influence of Claudius Ptolemaeus
Claudius Clavus Niger
Leading up to Circa 1440: The European View
A Subtle Composite
Northern Geographical Conventions
Snorri Sturluson's Universe
Ginnungagap and the Birth of a Cartographic Myth
Navigating by the Vínland Map
8.The Vínland Map as a Narrative
The Roman Church at the "End of the World"
A Haphazard Quest
Luka Jelic
The Land "Our Brothers" Saw
The 1245-47 Carpini Visit to the Mongols
Mounting Troubles
Which Way to the Caspian Sea?
Room for Prester John
"A New Land"
"Tartars, Mongols, Samoyeds, and Indians"
Adding to the Vínland Myth
Who "Discovered" Vínland?
Missionary to the Samoyeds
Further Ambiguities
Searching for the Author
9.The Vínland Map as a Human Creation
Father Josef (Joseph) Fischer, S.J. (1858-1944)
Scholarly Connections
America's "Baptismal Certificate" and Its 1516 Sibling
The Norse Discovery of America
An Active Life
Public Recognition
Returning to the Norse
A Moravian Castle Library
Father Fischer's Choice
Annus horribilis—1933
Retirement
Last Return to Wolfegg
A Map Without a Home
Notes
Bibliography
Index